Cruze manual: is it fun?

[kevm14]

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/201 ... ive-review

Not really. C/D likes the Cruze but the manual does nothing to make the car fun to drive.

It almost seems like GM went for building a more sophisticated and quiet Corolla with this generation. I guess we'll see if that bet works out. If the Focus, 3 and Civic are all competing to out-sport each other, maybe GM felt there would be little point to add a 4th player in that race and instead go after a different demographic. Fortunately, I think that demographic exists. It just means the car is not very interesting to an enthusiast.

The good news is probably that, should GM wake up and actually decide to offer a hot offering in this class, I am sure the chassis is more than up to it. They certainly proved that with the old Cobalt SS. No one drove the base Cobalt and said "this will definitely make a good high performance offering." Yet, it did. The D2XX platform is considerably better than the original Delta platform. Though probably more for things like scalability and refinement.

[kevm14]

Best comment is unrelated to the Cruze:

To be fair the manual on the WRX had some issues; the first batch of fourth gen WRXs had bad clutches and, as of last year when I did a test drive on one, the shifter still felt artificially notchy, like someone poured sand in between the gates just to deliberately give someone the sensation of "oh here's a gear, push this way".

Lol I think that is just how Subaru transmissions feel. I have an '05 Legacy GT and it is like stirring a stick through a bucket of rocks.

Every time I picture his analogy I burst out laughing.

[kevm14]

Other relevant discussion: death of the manual.

I think this is pretty easy. Many factors all working together:
- Aging population
- More traffic
- Manuals aren't really faster anymore, if anyone even cares
- Manuals don't really get better fuel economy, and that probably does matter
- General laziness/apathy and disinterest in a car being a place of enthusiasm - the less the driver needs to actually bother with driving, the better
- Similarly, the kinds of vehicles that are popular don't really lend themselves to manual transmissions

GM did at least make the Cruze manual available with every trim level except Premier.

[Bob]

Add another factor: I think there is an ever decreasing portion of the population that knows how to drive a manual. That's a prerequisite for purchasing one.

[kevm14]

Technically it's not. Though the percentage of buyers who fall into that category is admittedly very small.

[bill25]

Being a person that is going to buy a Gen 5 Camaro (some day) I have gone back and forth on this a lot.

I can drive a manual, but have never owned one so I am not great at it or super confident yet. That is a factor.

I will most likely want to turbo it and drag race it in the future and that is a factor.

The auto is faster stock, and gas mileage is probably negligible. These would have been more of a factor historically and these both would have been pros for the manual.

If I get the auto, I will have to listen to everyone say "aw you should have gotten the manual" until I beat them in a race. But I will also have to hear it from people that drive auto Corollas.

The manual can definitely be a lot of fun, if you aren't in traffic, and this will be my daily for 75% of the year.
My wife can't drive a manual at all, that is a factor. I think she is willing to learn. So 1.5 people learning to drive on this poor manual that is supposed to be my cherished car... Another factor...

This is also going to be my first car that is RWD with real power, which also comes with a learning curve.

My plan is to also own a Monte Carlo SS from the 80's and they are all auto to start, so the Camaro could be my chance to get as a manual and have the Monte be auto. In this case, I would potentially have the Camaro as a manual, NA, with cam etc., and drag the Monte... More factors...